Lancashire residents were abruptly awoken on Wednesday night after an earthquake hit homes in the north-west of England, with locals describing it "like an underground explosion".
The tremor was registered to be 3.3-magnitude in strength, according to the British Geological Survey (BGS).
The quake occurred at around 11:23pm and was felt across Lancashire and the southern Lake District, including the towns of Kendal and Ulverston, within 12 miles of the epicentre.
Lancaster Police said they had received reports of a "loud explosion" overnight. There have been no immediate reports of damage.
A spokesman for the force said: "At 11.23pm on Wednesday night (December 3), we received reports of a loud explosion in the Carnforth area.
"There has been a minor earthquake in the area, near to the Lancashire and Cumbria border, measuring 3.3 magnitude.
"There have been no reports of anyone injured or damage caused but we have officers in the area, together with colleagues from the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service and the North West Ambulance Service.
"If you know of any property that has been damaged or potentially, please contact 101 – quoting log 1613 of December 3."
A 3.3-magnitude earthquake hit the north west of England last night
|GETTY
Residents are said to have told the BGS that the tremor "felt like an underground explosion" and was "so powerful it shook the whole house".
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said "many residents felt or heard a loud bang" in the area of Carnforth.
The volcano discovery website, which also collects information on earthquakes, received more than 1,100 reports from people who were in the area at the time. Most reports detailed "light" or "weak" shaking.
Another local took to social media, saying they "initially thought the rumbling was a train, but then felt the shaking".
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The tremor could be felt as far as Blackpool
|British Geological Survey
One Carnforth resident said she got "a hell of a scare" when she was woken in the middle of the night by the tremors.
"The shaking woke me up, I thought someone had driven into the house," she told the BBC.
"It was about 25 to 12 and I jumped straight out of bed. I live on my own so it gave me a hell of a scare."
"It was only when I went on Facebook this morning I realised it was an earthquake.
"A customer this morning said all the emergency services were on standby at Aldi, at that time they thought it might have been an explosion."
Emergency services were spotted outside the store late at night, while a helicopter is said to have been heard circling above. The force of the tremor is said to have set the shop's alarm off.
"I know the general manager got a call in the middle of the night because it set the alarms off," the store's relief manager said.
"Customers have been talking about it all morning. They thought a lorry had crashed into a building or there had been a quarry explosion. No one was expecting it to be an earthquake."
The BSG records between 200 and 300 earthquakes a year, but no more than 30 of these are strong enough to be felt.
Instead, most go largely unnoticed, recorded only by sensitive instruments, and the vast majority cause little damage.
The most recent earthquake measuring more than 3.3 magnitude was felt in parts of Perth and Kinross on October 20, which recorded a 3.7 magnitude.
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